For everyone, April 1 of each calendar year is either a glorious day — or an absolute pain in the neck of a day.
And that’s because April Fools Day is very much an acquired taste. People either hate the day or love the day.
(Of course, if you mostly surround yourself with actual adults, then perhaps April 1 is just another day.)
Regardless, in an increasingly loony world, it’s become harder and harder to separate fact from fiction on April 1.
That doesn’t mean it’s hard to separate the good April Fools jokes from the bad ones, especially once the dust has settled a bit on April 2.
Here are a handful of the best entertainment-themed April Fools 2024 jokes that went around the internet, in order:
5. Hot dog-flavored sparkling water: Worldwide convenience chain 7-Eleven announced on March 27 that it was unveiling a hot dog-flavored sparkling water beverage.
“The Big Bite Hot Dog Sparkling Water combines the delicious and mouthwatering experience of 7-Eleven’s iconic Big Bite Hot Dog into one refreshing beverage – ketchup and mustard included,” the late March release read. “Gone are the days of alternating bites of a hot dog with sips of a beverage, now those on the go can swap the bun for bubbles.”
Do you enjoy practical jokes?
The abjectly awful-sounding beverage turned out to be a prank, which 7-Eleven owned up to in a cheeky “update” to that release.
The convenience titan did, however, tease the possibility of actually bringing the drink to fruition if enough people were actually interested.
4. A chair that Doctor Octopus would be proud of: Razer, a very pricey, very neon gamer-centric brand, tapped into the “lazy gamer” stereotype and turned it up to 11 with this joke product.
If we’re being honest, a chair like that would come in very handy.
But if you take a glance at the company’s already eye-watering prices, you would know that a real “Razer Cthulu” chair would probably cost you an arm and a leg — which works out given the extra appendages the chair would proffer.
3. Pokemon Sleep (that’s not the joke part) Champion Tournament 2024: Just look at this absurdity:
『Pokémon Sleep』、初の世界大会を開催！
熱戦のようすはこちら！https://t.co/Is7jVunrRa #ポケモンスリープ世界大会 pic.twitter.com/HQMGWUEhC7— ポケモン公式 (@Pokemon_cojp) March 31, 2024
“Pokemon Sleep,” a real-life app meant to aid in improving sleep quality (this writer personally tested it out and the app uses a number of factors to determine the quality of your sleep, including total duration and movement), is one of the more literally lifeless “games” in existence.
An eight-and-a-half-hour “tournament” sounds like a nightmare, and for now, it appears it’ll only exist in dreams.
2. A literal “Elden Ring” expansion: Even if you’ve never played a video game, if you’re a fan of wordplay at all, you can appreciate this “tease” from “Elden Ring” developer FromSoftware.
Tarnished, look upon this #ELDENRING expansion. pic.twitter.com/nR8KlR40XT
— Bandai Namco US (@BandaiNamcoUS) April 1, 2024
Fans of the critically acclaimed “Elden Ring” have been longing for an expansion pack to the game, and FromSoftware gave them one… literally, as “Elden Ring Expansion” expanded in a social media post.
Cruel to the patient fans? Absolutely.
A fun literary play? Absolutely.
1. Every young boy’s childhood dream game: The Arma video game franchise is one of the deepest and most serious military shooter franchises in existence.
(Fun fact: If you hate “Fortnite,” blame Arma, because the battle royale shooter genre took off thanks to an “Arma III” mod that eventually turned into “Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds.” PUBG is the game many consider to be the first mainstream battle royale shooter.)
So for April Fools 2024, Arma announced a “Tiny Wars” mode for its very serious franchise, and for any young kid who has played with little green Army men figurines, it’s a dream video game:
Introducing #ArmaReforger ‘Tiny Wars!’ 🪖
Leap into imaginative battlefields straight out of your childhood dreams. 🏰https://t.co/8LT4eWJ6uT pic.twitter.com/zGUFtUvYkD
— Arma Platform (@ArmaPlatform) April 1, 2024
Yes, this writer is aware that the “Army Men” franchise exists, but it’s effectively a dead franchise in 2024 — so it’s too bad “Tiny Wars” is just an April Fool’s prank.
Or is it?
The reason this entry was saved for last is that in the same update where Arma admitted “Tiny Wars” was an April Fools joke, the company also announced that it had created a real “Tiny Wars” mode for its game.
There is one catch: The “Tiny Wars” mode is only available until April 9, so if you want to relive those massive toy world wars in your living room, you have a limited amount of time to look into Arma and this mode update.
